The Power of Wit
Have you seen A Day in the Life of an Enshittificator yet?
I’m a little late to the party on watching it but last month, the Norwegian Government released the sketch to promote Breaking Free, their report on enshittification and how to resist it.
There’s a bright side to all this: if everyone is threatened by enshittification, then everyone has a stake in disenshittification…the potential anti-enshittification coalition is massive. It’s unstoppable.
Enshittification isnt a new concept: Cory Doctorow coined it a while back (wrote about that a couple years ago) so I won’t dive into the topic right here, right now. But what I’m really interested in is a serious government promoting the shitty little topic with a humorous - and memorable - ad instead of a shock-tactic billboard or doom and gloom headline. Enwittification, if you will…(I’ll see myself out).
That shift to entertainment and connection not the shock and awe of bait, is exactly the approach purposeful brands and organisations need to take; to become media brands and entertainers. Its exactly what we’ve been exploring in the latest futures edition: On Entertainment.
Why? We need to feel an emotion other than rage or anxiety for one hot minute. And if you’re in the business of creating change, do so with a carrot not a stick.
Case in point: the all-time classic (and, I gotta assume inspo for the Norwegian Govt. ad) Epuron ad, from way-way-back in 2008. Now, that’s what I call entertainment.
Until Next Time…
Surfacing hopeful recs, links and loose threads from beyond the algo…
Not another AI article, Anthropic used it to interview 81k people and the responses are fascinating: “Most of the visions people described, ranging from personal transformation to cognitive support, collapse into an underlying desire: that AI helps them live better, not simply work faster.” Surprise!
And speaking of living better: Alice Katter created Out of Office for living a more creative, inspired life.
This Dazed Article is a HARD Agree: We Need More Normal Looking People on TV
Linear history is an illusion and that’s why we all love EPOCH. Issue 4, the Pompeii issue is out now.
Matchbooks that make me want to start merch It’s Nice to Look at:
The future isn't inevitable, it’s intentional. Designed by the people willing to ask the uncomfortable questions early enough to do something about them.
What will you do?
If you want to think through what's changing in your world — and what to proactively change — let's talk.